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I think I’d rather make a steep drop into a jacked-up, big wave than have head high, perfect peelers that go forever. Tough call though. The first definitely gets the ticker quicker than the latter.

I’m no surf school instructor, but I’ve been thinking about how I do this and what works for me. Hope it helps somebody. Fun stuff to try to put into words. It seems like there are two ways that I do this, parallel to the wave and perpendicular to the wave. I dunno, I’ve probably been doing it all “wrong” this whole time, but it works for me. I learn new stuff and change my technique all the time. Just yesterday some old timer told me that I was working too hard and if I wanted to hang ten easier, I need to start walking the board when it’s at an upward facing angle as opposed to a down angle. Never knew that. Actually seemed to make a big difference.

No matter the size of the wave, I usually take off at some angle parallel to the wave face. This works especially well on the shoulder. The steeper and quicker the wave is closing out, the closer I get to 90° from the face. Some waves, I‘m looking directly over my shoulder right at the wave. Paddle hard, you can do the no paddle take off on steep waves, it’s not real tough, just pop when the wave jacks up; but it can get you into trouble cause you can’t take the same angle or worse! you might miss it for lack of a little paddling (there is nothing worse than blowing a wave at a competitive break). Paddling’s where it's at, just ask Betty Page or the latest WaveJet Corey Lopez’s broken. The more parallel I am, the higher the line I try to take off on. The bigger and steeper the wave, the more I try to limit my bottom turn so I don’t get caught by the crashing wave and I can get more speed to make the next section. At this point you need a solid pop-up. Put your hands on the board right under the tops of your pecs. I like to inhale a deep breath right then too. Start exhaling. Push up like you’re doing the cobra in Yoga, so your shoulders are off the board and higher than your pelvis. Here’s where I see most people blow their pop up: Don’t Shove You’re @$$ in the Air! That’s how you end up crawling up, surfers don’t crawl! Swing your legs like a pendulum under you. Plant your feet solid; your front foot should where your hands where more or less, make sure you don’t drag your toes, start your next inhale. When I pop and I’m trying to take a high line, I’ll stay real low in a crouch; if I pop and stand all the way up, I’m heading for the trough and it’s a bigger bottom turn back to the top. That can be fun too. If it’s really steep and closing out fast, I’ll grab the outside rail and start pulling up so that the nose doesn’t start drifting down the wave; not too much, just until I get some speed built up and then come out of my crouch some; or I stall a bit, drag my inside hand against the face and settle in for some me time. Then I figure out what the wave is going to do next and start playing around. Or I get ate and get an opportunity to get real familiar with the reef.

So, taking off perpendicular or straight on a big steep wave is a whole different ball game. U'r going to need to take a bottom turn and get back on the face, otherwise you might as well just keep stink bugging straight to the shore. You really want to do this kind of take off at the peak and not the shoulder and you want to start on the outside. The steeper the wave, the more vertical the board's going to get, the more horizontal to the ocean floor you’re going to get. I take a wide a stance. It must be straight up Greg Noll arms out, legs akimbo, because right before I begin my bottom turn it seems like I always need to pull my feet closer together and my arms in. If you get airborne down the face, or start hitting some serious chop, a wide stance sure seems to keep me on my board. Helps cushion the shock to the knees too. The straight take off seems to be the best way to put new pressure dings in your board and get a few extra BPM out of your heart. This is also the best way to break a board. It’s really easy to screw up and the next thing you know you’re doing a massive floater with no hope and the waves coming down right on top of you. This seems to happen by trying to go from a straight takeoff immediately into a turn on the face without any speed. In other words you skipped the bottom turn. Paddle Hard. Like long before the wave gets there. You’re trying to build up a lot of speed. Try to pop up as soon as you start to feel the wave catch the board. If you pop up late you’re going to drop in from the highest part of the peak. This is fun, but can be a cliffhanger. Nail your popup, nothing is worse than missing this one. You’re going to be headed straight down, WHEEEEE. If you don’t nail it, you’re doing a belly flop with a board coming right behind you. I think on the drop I have more weight on my front foot, until I start the bottom turn. Shift your weight onto the backfoot so that you don’t drive the nose of the board into the reef as it will be quickly followed by your face. You’re going to need that weight back there to really lean into and carve that bottom turn, almost, but not quite pivot off of it if you’re on a longboard. I usually am standing all the way up on turns like that, really leaning into it and then duck into a crouch when I’m exiting it on the way back up the face. Then I like to take a high line to get some speed going again. Or I’ve wiped out and am getting a fun ride in the washing machine, seeing how tight a ball I can tuck into and wondering if I should start counting. I never seem to start until about 5 seconds in.

I think I’d rather make a steep drop into a jacked-up, big wave than have head high, perfect peelers that go forever. Tough call though. The first definitely gets the ticker quicker than the latter.

I’m no surf school instructor, but I’ve been thinking about how I do this and what works for me. Hope it helps somebody. Fun stuff to try to put into words. It seems like there are two ways that I do this, parallel to the wave and perpendicular to the wave. I dunno, I’ve probably been doing it all “wrong” this whole time, but it works for me. I learn new stuff and change my technique all the time. Just yesterday some old timer told me that I was working too hard and if I wanted to hang ten easier, I need to start walking the board when it’s at an upward facing angle as opposed to a down angle. Never knew that. Actually seemed to make a big difference.

No matter the size of the wave, I usually take off at some angle parallel to the wave face. This works especially well on the shoulder. The steeper and quicker the wave is closing out, the closer I get to 90° from the face. Some waves, I‘m looking directly over my shoulder right at wave. Paddle hard, you can do the no paddle take off on steep waves, it’s not hard, just pop when the wave jacks up; but it can get you into trouble cause you can’t take the same angle or worse you might miss it for lack of a little paddling. Paddling’s where it at, just ask Betty Page or the latest WaveJet Corey Lopez’s broken. The more parallel I am the higher the line I try to take off on. The bigger and steeper the wave, the more I try to limit my bottom turn so I don’t get caught by the crashing wave and I can get more speed to make the next section. At this point you need a solid pop-up. Put your hands on the board right under the tops of your pecs. I like to inhale a deep breath right then too. Start exhaling. Push up like you’re doing the cobra in Yoga, so your shoulders are off the board and higher than your pelvis. Here’s where I see most people blow their pop up: Don’t Shove You’re @$$ in the Air! That’s how you end up crawling up, surfers don’t crawl! Swing your legs like a pendulum under you. Plant your feet solid; your front foot should where your hands where more or less, make sure you don’t drag your toes, start your next inhale. When I pop and I’m trying to take a high line, I’ll stay real low in a crouch; if I pop and stand all the way up, I’m heading for the trough and it’s a bigger bottom turn back to the top. That can be fun too. If it’s really steep and closing out fast, I’ll grab the outside rail and start pulling up so that the nose doesn’t start drifting down the wave; not too much, just until I get some speed built up and then come out of my crouch some; or I stall a bit, drag my inside hand against the face and settle in for some me time. Then I figure out what the wave is going to do next and start playing around. Or I get ate and get an opportunity to get real familiar with the reef.

So, taking off perpendicular or straight on a big steep wave is a whole different ball game you’re going to need to take a bottom turn and get back on the face, otherwise you might as well just keep stink bugging straight to the shore. You really want to do this kind of take off at the peak and not the shoulder and you want to start on the outside. The steeper the wave, the more vertical the boards going to get, the more horizontal to the ocean floor you’re going to get. I take a wide a stance. It must be straight up Greg Noll arms out, legs akimbo, because right before I begin my bottom turn it seems like I always need to pull my feet closer together and my arms in. If you get airborne down the face, or start hitting some serious chop, a wide stance sure seems to keep me on my board. Helps cushion the shock to the knees too. The straight take off seems to be the best way to put new pressure dings in your board and get a few extra BPM out of your heart. This is also the best way to break a board. It’s really easy to screw up and the next thing you know you’re doing a massive floater with no hope and the waves coming down right on top of you. This seems to happen by trying to go from a straight takeoff immediately into a turn on the face without any speed. In other words you skipped the bottom turn. Paddle Hard. Like long before the wave gets there. You’re trying to build up a lot of speed. Try to pop up as soon as you start to feel the wave catch the board. If you pop up late you’re going to drop in from the highest part of the peak. This is fun, but can be a cliffhanger. Nail your popup, nothing is worse than missing this one. You’re going to be headed straight down, WHEEEEE. If you don’t nail it, you’re doing a belly flop with a board coming right behind you. I think on the drop I have more weight on my front foot, until I start the bottom turn. Shift your weight onto the backfoot so that you don’t drive the nose of the board into the reef as it will be quickly followed by your face. You’re going to need that weight back there to really lean into and carve that bottom turn, almost, but not quite pivot off of it if you’re on a longboard. I usually am standing all the way up on turns like that, really leaning into it and then duck into a crouch when I’m exiting it on the way back up the face. Then I like to take a high line to get some speed going again. Or I’ve wiped out and am getting a fun ride in the washing machine, seeing how tight a ball I can tuck into and wondering if I should start counting. I never seem to start until about 5 seconds in.

bottom turn, bottom turn, bottom turn all the other advice is great, but after 38 yrs of surfing, bottom turns. watch guys at pipeline, it's hard to get a take off steeper than that.

You see more guys at Pipe grab rail than bottom turn and if you are on east coast steep and you bottom turn 8 times out of 10 the wave will leave you behind. On huge days at pipe you can bottom turn and catch up but mid size days......good luck.